– CARWIN IS MIR’S TESTING GROUND FOR LESNAR

by Damon Martin – MMAWeekly.com
The style that Brock Lesnar employs is a code that’s not easy to crack.

A few have tried, unsuccessfully, to break through his iron grip and massive meat hooks, but the last person who tried is back at the drawing board and believes his next opponent is a great person to test his theories on.

As Frank Mir goes through the final days of preparation for his co-main event showdown with Shane Carwin at UFC 111, the former champion knows that his current opponent’s size and strategy could help him develop the perfect poison to drop Lesnar if a third fight happens between the two.

Carwin is still undefeated as a professional, and carries with him strong wrestling skills and serious power that can put your lights out. Mir believes that if he can’t figure out what he did wrong against Lesnar, he may experience de javu in his next fight.

“I think I’ve shown in the Brock fight a weakness in that area, where if I get taken down against the cage, not that anybody’s great there, but (Carwin) has his great wrestling and he’s also a big guy, very strong, and very technical with (Greg) Jackson as a coach,” Mir said in an interview with MMAWeekly Radio.

“I think if things aren’t going well for him, not that if he’s losing, but if he’s just not getting the knockout, why not push me against the cage and fight me from there?”

The stylistic match-up intrigues Mir, who breaks down fights like a chess player looking for the next move, and he has a great mindset when dissecting Carwin’s style and the danger that comes along with it.

“It helps that Shane Carwin is stylistically someone I want to work on,” said Mir. “I think I’ve done well against strikers, and I’ve done well against people who are submission fighters, but the wrestling aspect of it is something I still feel in my game that I want to improve upon. So Shane Carwin and obviously Brock after that pose the same kind of stylistic fighter.”

Of course the question always gets posed to Mir whenever Lesnar’s name comes up. Is he looking past Carwin to a fight with the UFC heavyweight champion?

“It’s easy to keep focused,” said Mir. “If I was fighting somebody that was a completely different style of fighter, if I was getting ready to fight (Junior) Dos Santos, who is primarily a boxer and a jiu-jitsu stylist, then maybe I would have to change things around a little bit.

“In an essence, I’m fighting the same kind of guy. I’m going to lose the same kind of way if I get stuck against the cage and pounded out. Both guys can do that to me, both guys are relatively heavy handed, and Shane Carwin has shown that time and time again.”

Even if Lesnar’s name does come to illicit a reaction from Mir, he says he has the right people around him to make sure that his view never gets too distracted.

“I think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying focused on him,” said the former UFC heavyweight champion. “But obviously I have a coaching staff and a wife that kind of get the prodder out, making sure that if I bring up other stuff I get the little jolt.”